Oil tanker blaze off Hong Kong's Lamma Island leaves 1 dead

Hong Kong, Jan 9 (IBNS): At least one person was killed and seven others were injured when an oil tanker exploded and caught fire Tuesday off Hong Kong's Lamma Island, media reports said on Wednesday.

The accident occurred at around 11:29 a.m. local time (0329 GMT) when crew members on the 140-meter-long oil tanker were trying to connect pipes with an oil barge to refuel the ship south off Lamma Island, Yiu Men Yeung, division commander for marine and diving of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government's Fire Services Department (FSD), told Xinhua news agency.

According to reports, there were 25 crew members on the oil tanker and four workers on the barge when the mishap occurred.

Among the oil tanker crew members, one man was found dead at the scene, 22 were rescued from the sea, while two remained missing, according to Wong Wai Hong, deputy district commander of the Marine Port District of the Hong Kong Police Force, reported Xinhua.

The FSD and the police deployed several vessels, 20 fire engines, 14 ambulances, four fire boat monitors and a total of 140 emergency crews to combat against the fire and bring it under control.

The Government Flying Service (GFS) also deployed three helicopters with a total of 13 crew members to search for the missing crew members of the tanker.

Danny Kwok, owner of a speedboat leasing business on the island, told Xinhua after returning from near the scene that the ship was tilted and the sea area around had been blockaded.

The oil tanker was registered in Vietnam.

The mishap occurred when it was on its way from China's Dongguan to Thailand, reports said.